Minutes | Special Meeting of the Board 30 September 2004

A Special Meeting of the ICANN's Board of Directors was held via teleconference on 30 September 2004 and was called to order at 4:04AM (Pacific Standard Time (PST), California). Chairman Vinton G. Cerf presided over the entire meeting. The following other Board Directors participated in the entire meeting: Raimundo Beca, Ivan Moura Campos, Mouhamet Diop, Hagen Hultzsch, Veni Markovski, Michael D. Palage, Alejandro Pisanty, Hualin Qian and Paul Twomey. The following Board Members participated in part of the Meeting: Tricia Drakes, Thomas Niles and Njeri Rionge.

The following Board Liaisons participated in the meeting: Steve Crocker, Security and Stability Advisory Committee Liaison; Roberto Gaetano, At Large Advisory Committee Liaison; Francisco A. Jesus Silva, Technical Liaison Group Liaison; John Klensin, IETF Liaison and Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, Governmental Advisory Committee Liaison.

John O. Jeffrey, General Counsel and Board Secretary participated in the meeting. The following ICANN staff members also participated in the meeting: Doug Barton, General Manager for IANA; John Crain, Chief Technical Officer; Tina Dam, Chief gTLD Registry Liaison; Kurt J. Pritz, Vice President of Business Operations; Barbara Roseman, ICANN Policy Development Support Staff; and, Paul Verhoef, Vice President, Policy Development Support.

The Board engaged in discussion regarding the following items and in some cases adopted resolutions, as set forth below:

Item 1 – ICANN Meetings Selection

Veni Markovski presented to the board recommendations made on behalf of the Board's Meetings Committee, which consulted with the President. The President accepted the site recommendations for the proposed locations of the First and Second Meetings of 2005. After some discussion by various board members, Veni Markovski moved, with Michael Palage's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

Whereas, the ICANN Meetings Committee, under its charter to consult with the President and staff on selection of sites for the Board's regular meetings recommends that the President accept the proposal from The Argentine Chamber of Databases and Online Services (CABASE) to host the ICANN Meeting commencing on 4 April 2005 in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Whereas, the ICANN Meetings Committee, under its charter to consult with the President and staff on selection of sites for the Board's regular meetings recommends that the President accept the proposal from the Luxembourg Chapter of the Internet Society; the Media and Telecommunications Department of the Prime Minister of Luxembourg; and, the Restena Foundation to host the ICANN Meeting commencing on 11 July 2005 in Luxembourg.

Resolved [04.79] that the President is authorized to make arrangements for the Latin America - April 2005 ICANN Meeting to be held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, during 4-8 April 2005.

Resolved [04.80] that the President is authorized to make arrangements for the Europe - July 2005 ICANN Meeting to be held in Luxembourg, during 11-15 July 2005.

The Board approved the above the above resolutions by a unanimous 11-0 vote with no abstentions. Tom Niles and Njeri Rionge were not present on the call for this vote.

Item 2 – Authorization to Purchase Technical Equipment

John Crain, ICANN's CTO introduced a proposal requesting authorization for the purchase of equipment necessary for upgrading current office infrastructure and to eliminate problems associated with current infrastructure.

After some board discussion on this topic and the proposal, Vinton Cerf moved, with Hagen Hultzsch's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

Whereas, the ICANN President and CTO have produced a proposal to purchase equipment necessary for upgrading the current office infrastructure, and the proposal presented will seek to eliminate current infrastructure problems as well as supporting projected staff growth, IPv6, and VoIP deployment.

Resolved [04.81] that the President is authorized to appropriate $125,000 USD from the allocated portions of ICANN's current budget to purchase equipment necessary for upgrading the current office infrastructure, including making purchases in excess of $50,000 USD from one or more single vendors.

The Board approved the above the above resolution by a unanimous 11-0 vote with no abstentions. Tom Niles and Njeri Rionge were not present on the call for this vote.

Item 3 – AFRINIC Provisional Recognition

Barbara Roseman, ICANN Staff, introduced discussion among the board regarding AFRINIC's recently received application for recognition as an RIR for the African region, and transition plan developed in cooperation with the four existing RIRs, through the NRO.

There was also a discussion regarding the procedures and standards for receipt and evaluation of AFRINIC's application, and the ICANN President and staff's intent to apply the principles used previously by ICANN including the "Criteria for the Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries "(ICP-2).

After additional board discussion on the above mentioned topics and the proposal, Michael Palage moved, with Mouhamet Diop's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

Whereas ICANN has previously adopted a set of procedures and standards for the receipt and evaluation of applications for recognition as a regional Internet registry (RIR), as authorized by the Board in resolution 01.68;

Whereas an application for recognition, together with a detailed transition plan - including draft bylaws, policies, funding model, and staff resumes - have been submitted to ICANN by the AFRINIC organization;

Whereas the President has conducted a preliminary evaluation and concluded that the application and transition plan constitute a reasonable basis for eventual recognition, while noting that some adjustments might be necessary;

Resolved [04.82] that the Board gives its provisional recognition to AFRINIC as the Regional Internet Registry for the Africa region, with the expectation that the transition plan will be successfully implemented and the application for recognition will be supplemented and finalized; and

Resolved [04.83] that the President is directed to continue working closely with AFRINIC and the four existing RIRs, through the NRO, to assist in a smooth and satisfactory transition and, as well, in the revision to supplement and finalize the application for recognition of AFRINIC in conformance with the criteria set forth in ICP-2 and the then current version of the ASO Memorandum of Understanding. The Board approved the above resolutions by a unanimous 12-0 vote with no abstentions. Tom Niles joined the call for the discussion and vote on these resolutions. Njeri Rionge was not present on the call for this vote.

Item 4 – Modification of .BIZ Registry Agreement regarding Billing Rules

Tina Dam introduced discussion relating to a request from Neulevel regarding proposed changes to the .BIZ Registry Agreement's billing rules that are inconsistent with market practices of registrars. After additional board discussion on the above mentioned topics and the proposal, Michael Palage moved, with Hagen Hultzsch's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

Whereas, Neulevel, the Registry Operator for .BIZ, requested formally on August 28, 2004 a change in their registry agreement that requires them to charge registrars at the beginning of the auto-renewal period.

Whereas, Neulevel has requested that the process for the .BIZ registry will be modified as follows: 1) The registry will not charge the registrar, nor renew the name, until either the registrar is submitting a renewal command to the registry, or until the end of the 45 days auto-renew grace period (assuming the domain has not been deleted within this period). 2) The Whois information display of domain names expiration date will be synchronized with the registrar's database, and synchronized with the decision made by the registrant.

Resolved [04.84] that the Board of Directors should allow ICANN President and General Counsel to negotiate and enter into such amendment of the .BIZ Registry Agreement with Neulevel as necessary to allow for appropriate changes to the agreement's billing rules provisions.

The Board approved the above the above resolution by a unanimous 12-0 vote with no abstentions. Njeri Rionge was not present on the call for this vote.

Item 5 – Modification of .PRO Registry Agreement regarding Personal Data Verification

Tina Dam introduced discussion relating to a request from Registry Services Corporation dba RegistryPro regarding proposed changes to the .PRO Registry Agreement's personal data verification rules. Staff indicated that the request from RegistryPro has been followed by several conversations with RegistryPro and analysis made by ICANN staff based upon discussions by Vint Cerf, John Klensin, Steve Crocker, ICANN Staff and RegistryPro. The analysis concluded that the best way to alternate the current verification procedures used by RegistryPro would be to replace the out-of-band communication with other procedures and verification methods. Such methods should be decided upon by the registry in consultation with the appropriate .PRO Advisory Board(s), and further these methods should be allowed to vary dependent upon the involved profession and the location of the applicant. A main factor behind the recommendation to move forward with this request was an expressed view by individual board members and staff that ICANN should not be involved in the business decision-making details of a registry operator. Michael Palage requested that the alterations to the .PRO registry agreement require that the changes to the personal data verification be for "equivalent mechanisms" as opposed to "alternate mechanisms".

After additional board discussion on the above mentioned topics and the proposal, Michael Palage moved, with Ivan Moura Campos' second, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

Whereas, Registry Services Corporation dba RegistryPro requested per 10 August 2004 an amendment to the .PRO Registry Agreement to perform an out-of-band communication step when authenticating a registrant's personal information.

Whereas, ICANN Staff, ICANN Board Members and Liaisons and RegistryPro executives engaged in analysis and discussion regarding the appropriate adjustments to the contractual provisions governing personal data verification.

Whereas, RegistryPro intends to consult with the .PRO Advisory Board to choose adequate verification mechanisms for the current and future profession specific TLD's.

Resolved [04.85] that the Board of Directors should allow ICANN's President and General Counsel to negotiate and enter into such an amendment of the .PRO Registry Agreement with RegistryPro allowing for the adoption of other equivalent verification mechanisms to be used for personal data verification.

The Board approved the above resolution by a unanimous 12-0 vote with no abstentions. Njeri Rionge was not present on the call for this vote.

Item 6 – IPv4 Global Allocation Policy

Doug Barton presented information regarding the IPv4 Global Allocation Policy that was transmitted to ICANN in August 2004 from the RIR's as a reconciled version of the policy proposal to the ASO Council. On 3 September, the ASO Council forwarded the policy to the ICANN staff for submission to the Board for action, affirming that the policy had been approved in accordance with the four RIR's local policy development processes.

The board discussed the differences between the current ASO MoU and the proposed MoU. The proposed MoU specifies a 60 day period for the board to formally accept or reject a policy, which may not provide sufficient time to permit all of the appropriate advisory committees to appropriately review such policies assuming that such input might be useful or necessary. The Board decided to take no action on this matter during this board meeting but to further discuss it during future board meetings.

Item 7 – Other Business

Njeri Rionge joined the Meeting during the discussion of other business. Some other board members and liaisons left the meeting during the discussion of other business.

There was additional board discussion regarding the following:

IAB/IANA Discussions - Doug Barton provide the board with an update on this issue and answered questions. After some board discussion on this matter, Vint Cerf requested staff to present a report on this issue at the next board meeting. No formal board action was taken on this matter.

.NET Successor Registry Issues - Kurt Pritz provided the board with an update on this issue, and indicated that the 30 September date was being shifted to accommodate the significant number of comments on the GNSO criteria and process which had previously been posted. VeriSign and Neulevel have both expressed clear interest in participating in the rebid based upon their public statements and letters. Paul Twomey informed the board that ICANN Staff is seeking an independent third party to manage the .NET rebid process. The board engaged in some additional discussion and Kurt Pritz, Paul Twomey and John Jeffrey responded to board questions on these issues.

gTLD Strategy Planning Document - Kurt Pritz provided the board with an update on this issue and answered questions. The board engaged in discussion of this matter and made suggestions on how to communicate key provisions to the community. No formal board action was taken on this matter.

Budget Discussion -- Kurt Pritz provided the board with an update on this issue and answered questions. No formal board action was taken on this matter.

Ombudsman - Paul Twomey provided the board with an update on the status of the negotiations and hiring of an ombudsman, and answered questions. No formal board action was taken on this matter.

Adjournment

Vint Cerf requested all remaining items on the agenda be put over until the October Board Meeting and the call was formally adjourned at 7:04AM, PST.